Charles j



(No Model.) y

C. J. EAMES. FURNAGE FOR THE MANUFAGTURR 0F SPONGR, WROUGHT IRON, AND STRRLY IRON DIRECT FROM THR ORE. No. 818,608. Patented Mey 26, 1885. *il* vSrarns rtra CHARLES J. EAMES, OF

N ENV YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR- TO THE CARBON IRON COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

FURNACE FOR THE TVIANUFACTURE 0F SPONGE, WROUGHT-lRON, AND STEELY IRON DIRECT FROM THE ORE.

SPECIFCATION 'Terni-ing part. of Letters Patent No. 318,603, dated May 26, 1885.

Application filed February 2T, IBE. (No model.)

To CLZ'Z whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, CHARLES J. Etains, a citizen of the United States, residing at New York city, in the State of New York, haveinvented certainnew and useful Improvements in Reduction of Iron Ore in the Furnaces for the Manufacture of Sponge,VroughtTroinand Steely Iron Direct from the Ore; and I hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings,in which- Figure 1 is a longitudinal vertical section of a furnace embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a horizontal section of the rear end ofthe furnace on the line y y, Fig. 3; and Fig. 3 isa vertical transverse section on thelinex r, Figl.

Like letters refer to like parts wherever they occur.

My present invention relates to the construction and arrangement of a deoxidizing and carburizing furnace so that a continuous process can be conducted therein, whereby several material advantages are obtained over present furnaces and methods. For instance, iirst, a preparatory or drying and heating chamber for the ore and carbon is provided, wherein all moisture is expelled and a preliminary heating ofthe matter to be treated takes place; secondly, the deoxidizing and carburizing hearth or chamber is so placed at the rear of the furnace and at the discharge end of the drying or preparatory chamber as to be uniformly heated and the heat thereof maintained without variation; and, thirdly, aballing-hearth is provided and so arranged with rela-tion to the deoxidizing and carburizing hearth as to receive the charge deoxidized therefrom, and thus enables the furnace to be worked continuously.

The hailing-hearth may be of the usual silicious character. The deoXidiZing-hearth will be covered with a friable graphitic covering, either in compact form or in the form of lumps, as desired.

I will now proceed to describe my inven tion more specifically, so that others-skilled in the art to which it appertains may apply the same.

In the drawings, A A indicate brick arches supporting the sole or plate B of a furnace, which shall be about double the length as well as double the width of ordinary reverberatory furnaces. At one end of this furnace is the usual or any approved ire-chamber,a, having an ash-pit, b, closed by the door c. Into this ash-pit ablast-pipe, d, delivers. There is the usual fire-bridge, e, back of which and parallel therewith is the transverse bridge j', which divides the chamber into a ballinghearth, C, located in direct proximity to the fire-chamber,wliere the highest heats prevail, and a dcoxidizing and carburizing chamber,D, distant from the fire-chamber a, orwhere a lower dull -red or deoxidizing temperature prevails.

The balling-heartb C may have the usual sand bottom, or any approved fettling used in like chambers; but the deoxidizing and carburizing hearth D is covered for a dept-h of four to six inches with a friable graphitie botton1,(such as forms the subj ect-matter of Serial No. 144,152, filed September 27, 1884,) or with friable graphitic lumps Z, (such as form the subject-matter of Serial No. 149,823,) consisting of small lumps ofthe graphitic carbon of commerce, such as is obtained at Cranston, Rhode Island, and elsewhere, and just as it comes from the mine. This dcoxidizinghearth D may, if desired, be divided longitudinally by a slight bridge, 71, (part ofwhich is shown in Fig. 2,) the purpose of which, when used, will hereinafter appear.

af, c, and d d indicate workingdoors for the fire-chamber and hearths.

Supported on and projecting into the rear end of the furnace is a vert-ical feeding and drying chamber, E, which is by preference a cylindrical firebrick stack someten or twelve feet (more or less) in height, and of suitable diameter-say fifteen inches to two feet-having an opening or door,e,below,through which it discharges or feeds down on the deoxidizing and carburizing hearth. This feeding and drying chamber is encompassed at its base by the iiues w yw, by which the waste gases, &c., escape to a iiue, \V, leading to a stack beneath a boiler, or to other desired point.

S S indicate dampers which may beinserted in the tlues lw to, if in the working of the fur nace it becomes necessary or desirable to change the draft from one to the other side of the hearth D.

The aboveis a general description of a form of furnace which I have found very elfeetive ICO for thej purposes hereinbefore set'forth, and which may be varied in detail withoutdeparting from the spirit of my invention, provided the characteristic features and relative arrangeinent of the chambers are preserved.

. contains more orless moisture, is then charged .into the drying and feeding chamber E, and therein is subjected to the transmitted lieat from the furnace for several hours, or, during the deoxidatioii of the previous charge. The ywaste products fromv the furnace pass around the base of this chamberE through the wasteiiues w w and into the main ilue IV. So far as Iain aware none of the waste products pass through the charge in the drying and feeding chambers. From the drying and feeding chambers the charge, properly dried and heated, is drawn down upon the graphitic hearth of the .deoxidizing and carburizing chamber D, is spread out so as to be fully subjected to the currents of heated gases, die., and is retained' on said hearth until deoxidation, or deoxidation and the required carburization, is coinpleted. Vh en this is accomplished, the charge is drawn in small masses or in bulk over the bridgewall f onto the balling-lieartli @,wliere it is subjected to a higher temperature, sufficiently high to cause the agglomeration of the mass, and is balled in the usual manner and removedv to the blooming apparatus.

The above is a general 'statement of the manner in which the furnace is worked; but

' in practice it will be noted that after the first charge in chamber E is ready to be drawn on the deoXidizing-hearth D the working of the furnace will become continuous, as the ore and carbon composing the charge can be fed into the chamber E from time to time as it sinks therein. The charge for the deoxidizing and carburizing hearth D can be drawn first on one side ofthe hearth (or bridge-wall 7i, if such is used,) and then on the other, and from `hearth D the deoxidized and carburized ore or sponge can be drawn onto the ballinghearth C in like order.

In practice I have found that the first charge iii chamber E can be prepared for the dcoXidizing-hearth in four (4) or five (5) hours, and thereafter the necessary amount of ore and graphitic lumps added to the top of the charge in chamber E will be fully prepared by theftinie it reaches the discharge-door e.

The ore, &c.,as it comes from the chamber E, wilt require about an hour for treatment on the hearth D, and then can be transferred to 'uit 'thang-hearth c, Where it @an be bellied,

' hearth C, and thence to the blooming apparatus; while if steel or Steely iron is desired the ore, after it is deoxidized or becomes sponge, is retained in the hearth D a further time proportionate to the degree of carburization required, after which it is transferred to the balling-hearth C, and thence to the blooming apparatus, as before specified.

The advantages of my invention are the simplicity of the devices, the continuous character of the operations capable of being conducted therein, and the great reduction of time required in the several steps of the process.

I-Iaving thus described my invention, what Iclai1n, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,

l. A deoxidizing-furnaee for the treatment of ores, said furnace having a balling-hearth and a deoxidiZing-hearth provided with a friable'graphitic bottom, said hearths arranged in sequence, substantially as and for the purposes specified.y

2. The combination, in a furnace for deoXidizing ores, of a feeding and drying chamber for preliminary treatment of the charge, and

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a deoXidizing-heartli having a friable graph- 1 itic bottom, substantially as and for the pury poses specified.

` 3. In a furnace for deoxidizing ores, the combination ofa balling-hearth,a deoxidizinghearth having a friable grapliitic bottom, and a preliminary drying and feed chamber for receiving the fresh charge, all arranged in sequence, substantially as and for the purposes specified.

4. In a furnace for deoxidizing ores, the combination of a balliiig-hearth and a deoxidizing-heartli having a longitudinal bridgewall, substantially as and for the purposes specified.

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5. In a furnace for deoxidizing ores, the

combination of a drying and feeding chamber, a deoxidizing-hearth having a longitudinal bridge-wall, and a balling-hearth, all arranged in sequence, substantially as and for the purposes specified.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature, in presence ot' two witnesses, this 27th day ot' February, 1885.

Y CHARLES J. EAMES. Witnesses:

F. XV. RITTER, Jr., G. A. TAUBERscHMiD'r. 

